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Railway Strike
A strike against the Baltimore & Ohio railroad ignites a series of strikes accost the northeast. The violence and disturbances the followed resulted in federal troops being called out for the first time in a labor dispute. The strike is crushed, but it gives evidence of the deep conflict between workers and business owners. -
Haymarket Riot
A labor rally at the Haymarket Square in Chicago, called in support of the eight-hour day, erupts into chaos when an unknown party tosses a bomb at police, who then fired into the crowd. The incident stains labor's image and creates turmoil within the movement. There were atleast eight killed during this incident and many more injured. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The law tries to prevent the artificial raising of prices by restriction of trade or supply.The purpose of the Sherman Act was to preserve a competitive marketplace to protect consumers from abusive prices and etc.... -
ILGWU Strike
The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union calls a strike in New York, demanding a twenty-percent pay raise and a fifty-two-hour workweek within two days, more than 20,000 workers from 500 factories walk off the job. this largely successful "Uprising of 20,000" is the largest labor action by women in the nation's history. -
LA Times Bombing
A bomb explodes at the headquarters of the stridently anti-union Los Angeles Times, killing twenty people. Eventually two men connected with the Iron Workers Union, which has been implicated in the other bombings, willing confess to dynamiting the Times -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
A fire in lower Manhattan kills 146 women workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. The tragedy highlighted the harsh conditions under which the young women had to work, evoking public sympathy for reform. -
Ludlow Massacre
Violence breaks out in a camp housing striking miners in Ludlow, Colorado. National Guardsmen machinegun strikers and set fire to their tents, killing five miners, two women, and twelve children. More than 75 people will be killed over the full course of the industrial dispute. -
Sacco and Vanzetti
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for their alleged participation in a murderous payroll heist in 1920. The two men are anarchists and labor activists, and their case generates tremendous passion on all sides during the 1920's. -
Davis-Bacon Act
The Davis-Bacon Act requires that federal contractors pay their workers the wages and benefits prevailing in the local market when working on a public works project. The law keeps employers from importing cheaper workers from outside the region. -
The Fair Labor Standards Act
The FLSA (The Fair Labor Standards Act) introduced the forty-hour work week. As well as established a national minimum wage which guaranteed "time-and-a-half" for overtime in certain jobs. It also prohibited most employment of minors. -
The Great Postal Strike
More than 200,000 Post Office workers walk off the job in the first national strike of employees. Thought the action is illegal and President Nixon calls on the Army and National Guard to keep the mail moving, the two-week strike proves largely successful and ultimately leades to a modernization of the postal service.
